Over the years, accidents and conditions such as arthritis have resulted in muscle, tendon and nerve damage to one's feet and ankles. Ankle type fractures have been treated by immobilizing the body part in a cast and the like, where removal after many weeks or months can result in other serious complications. For example, an immobilized patient can experience a loss of muscle tone that can include muscle atrophy as well as the threat of blood clots by constant immobilization. The sixty degrees of articulation that is required in one's ankle can be seriously effected by such immobilization. Thus, there is a need to provide therapy and exercise treatment to the body parts to allow for enhancing blood flow by moving the body parts so that the muscles, tendons and nerves properly heal.
Various types of devices have been proposed over the years for providing treatment to the lower extremities of the body. Some of these devices have required the body parts such as the lower legs and/or feet to be securely strapped in place. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,509,793 to Thompson; 4,474,176 to Farris et al.; 6,206,807 to Cowan et al.; 6,709,369 to Jacobs; and U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0251067 to Terry. However, these devices are both cumbersome to use and require extra time to attach and remove from the patient that is not desirable for long term use.
Other devices have limited exercise and therapy capability since they fail to treat and articulate one's ankle. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,180 to Berman.
Still other devices have been proposed that are complex, expensive, not easy to assemble and disassemble and not practical for use outside of a hospital, and cannot be easily used by most patients without a doctors prescription and/or a therapist to use. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,340,666 to Johanson; 4,637,379 to Saringer; 6,270,445 to Dean, Jr. et al.; and U.S. Patent Application publication 2006/0064044 to Schmehl.
Many devices require the patient be in a sitting or prone position that can be both uncomfortable and also require the patient to control the device with one's hand which can require the patient to be in an uncomfortable position for long periods of time. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,872,186 to Branch et al. as well as U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,807 to Cowans et al. Additionally, just sitting in a seated position does not allow for the legs to receive any therapy and exercise which is also not desirable, which can be the result of other devices such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,008,357 to Winkler.
Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.